Strange New Eyes

Chapter Ten - Brothers

It only took a few steps into the frozen forest outside of the cave for Aysel to know that she was home again. The whisper of a gentle wind through bare branches, the peaceful stillness all around her, broken only by the quiet crunch as her boots broke through the top layer of snow... if she had closed her eyes, she might have thought that she was back in the wood surrounding her home, on a hunt or a simple walk with her brother. Her heart ached to walk with him again.

She shifted her pack on her shoulders; her heart wasn't the only thing aching. If her count was right, this was the sixth day of hard walking and the third of no food. Her legs and her stomach resented her for it. When she had voiced her concerns about how Letters needed food in order to survive, Dunyasha had scoffed and said, "You can live for a bit in an empty belly, can't you?" but then softened and said she'd see what she could do.

"What she could do" turned out to be a trio of rabbits, which dangled limply from her hand as she walked towards Aysel. "Here's your food, since you complained so much," she grouched jovially. "They were hard to catch, with all the noise those nets strapped to your feet make, but I got them just the same. You're welcome," she said, tossing Aysel a rabbit.

"Thanks," she said, shaking one snowshoed foot at Dunyasha. She plopped down on the snow, ready for some fire-roasted hare.

"What are you doing?" Enrick asked. "No time for sleeping, lazy Letter."

"I'm not sleeping," she replied, confused. "I'm cooking."

"No time," Enrick repeated, and to Aysel's horror, slit open the rabbit with one finger, pulled off the skin, and began to eat it raw. She watched, transfixed, as he tore into the wiry hind leg, breaking tendons and muscle with his thick teeth.

Dunyasha laughed. "Letters cook their food, Enrick."

"Always?" he asked around a mouthful of raw meat.

She chuckled. "Yes. Look at her face."

Aysel quickly closed her mouth, which had dropped open in disgust. Dunyasha laughed again. Aysel noticed that while her laugh was as deep and rough as the rest of her voice, it had an almost musical quality to it, like the large bell above the entrance arch into her village.

Enrick managed to roll his eyes and wipe his mouth at the same time; he had made quick work of his meal. "Fine, then cook. Quickly. I don't know if you've noticed, but we have places to be."

Aysel was already gathering sticks and twigs from the undergrowth above the snow, piling them into a triangular mound. She nicked her arm with her blade and let the blood flow onto the kindling; it lit with barely a thought. Soon she had a cheery little fire.

Dunyasha crouched down next to her, her already-skinned and cleaned rabbit in hand. "Mind if I share the fire?" she asked.

"If you clean my rabbit as well," she answered, tucking some of the pale, flaky bark from the tree next to her into the flames.

With a curt nod, Dunyasha prepared Aysel's share of the meat. Aysel tried not to watch; although she was an experienced hunter herself, the sight of skinless flesh brought back too many memories of what had happened in Beyrn. She pushed them down. She couldn't face it right now.

By the time Dunyasha had finished preparing both her and Aysel's rabbit, Aysel had finished fashioning a pair of woven broilers from some of the more flexible twigs she found on the trees. Dunyasha placed the pieces of meat-- the hind legs, the shoulders, and the back-- upon one of the broilers. "We're going to have ourselves a little feast," she muttered. "You should have waited, Enrick."

He gnawed angrily on his picked-clean rabbit femur in response.

As their meat sizzled tantalizingly over the fire, Aysel leaned back against the tree and let herself relax. Yes, it was almost like everything was normal... except this wasn't a hunt with her brother for some stew ingredients but a dangerous journey through perilous territory for reasons she still did not know accompanied by people who a few days ago would have been happy to hurt her.